Though I have lived for decades in Madison, Wisconsin (USA), I grew up in Missouri and did undergraduate work at Washington University, St. Louis, which is close to the famous Forest Park. So, to study for my botany final exam, I settled with my textbook and notes under a Forest Park tree. While studying the plant life cycle–alternation of generations–I realized how key the origin of this process was to all plant life, including the tree shading me. I was literally stunned. Since then, I’ve tried to understand plants by comparing bryophytes, the earliest-diverging extant plants having alternation of generations, with their closest green algal relatives, which lack that trait. That’s how I came to love bryophytes and why I still do.
A broad appreciation of bryophytes and algae, as well as their associated microbes, was fostered by my master’s work at the University of Texas Austin, with Harold C. Bold, famous for textbooks covering all these organisms. He insisted that I acquire a good background in microbiology, diversity and lab techniques, to which I attribute my persistent enthusiasm for symbioses and microbiomes. I followed a love interest (my ecologist husband of many decades now) to the University of Michigan for PhD and post-doc work, where I used electron microscopy to compare cellular features of algae and plants. Now I use fluorescence microscopy for that purpose, cheered on by two adult children who work in science fields.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I’ve happily taught introductory botany, intro biology, algae, bryophyte biology, and some adventurous field-focused courses in remote parts of the world. Channeling mentor Bold, I’ve written intro biology, botany and algae textbooks that incorporate as much bryology as possible. Exciting research expeditions with amazing geology and biology colleagues to places like the Simpson Desert of Australia, the US Mojave Desert, and Chile’s Navarino Island and Atacama Desert fostered my metagenomic studies of bryophytes and their microbiomes for comparison to algae. Memorable expedition bryophyte sightings include liverworts on rattlesnake-infested boulders in the desert near Las Vegas (Nevada, US); black Targionia rolls, when moistened, uncurl into glorious greenness. Those tough liverworts help explain why bryophytes have survived for so long.
Some articles on evolutionary aspects of algal/bryophyte microbiomes:
Satjarak A, GK Golinski, MT Trest, LE Graham. 2022. Microbiome and related structural features of Earth’s most archaic plant indicate early plant symbiosis attributes. Scientific Reports 12:6423.
Graham, LE, JM Graham, LW Wilcox, ME Cook, P Arancibia-Avila, JJ Knack. 2018. Evolutionary roots of plant microbiomes and biogeochemical impacts of nonvascular autotrophy-microbiome systems over deep time. International Journal of Plant Sciences 179(7):505-522.
Graham, LE, JM Graham, JJ Knack, MT Trest, MJ Piotrowski, P Arancibia-Avila. 2017. A sub-Antarctic peat moss metagenome indicates microbiome resilience to stress and the biogeochemical functions of early Paleozoic terrestrial ecosystems. International Journal of Plant Sciences 178:618-628.
Books that include bryophytes:
Graham, LE, Graham, JM, & Wilcox, LW Plant Biology 4e 2024 LJLM Press, digital.
Graham, LE & Wilcox, LW. Algae. 4e 2023 LJLM Press, digital. (many algae love to live with bryophytes)
Brooker, R, Widmaier, E, Graham, L, & Stiling, P. 4e 2022, Principles of Biology McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, IA.
Brooker, R, Widmaier, E, Graham, L, & Stiling, P 7e 2024 Biology McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, IA.
Composite photo with moss art (Takakia microbiome) by Sarah Friedrich, Department of Botany, UW-Madison